will attain the same dimensions that it does in America, but there are many trees which are already 60 to 70 feet in height at less than fifty years from seed.
By far the finest that I have seen or heard of are at Fonthill Abbey, Wilts, the residence of Lady Octavia Shaw-Stewart, which were raised in the late Duke of Westminster's gardens at Eaton Hall from seeds collected for Lord Stalbridge in 1860. Here, on a bed of greensand at an elevation of 400 to 500 feet, well sheltered from wind, are growing some of the finest and best grown conifers in Great Britain. In a group of three Thuyas, the middle one measured in 1906, as nearly as I could ascertain, not less than 90 and probably 95 feet in height by 10 feet in girth, and already began to show the buttressed trunk which is so characteristic in its native country. The other two trees were not much less in size, and all were a picture of health and symmetry (Plate 57).
The next tallest that we know of is a tree at Albury Park, the Surrey seat of the Duke of Northumberland. This was measured by Henry in 1904, and by myself in 1905, but owing to the way in which it is shut in by other trees it is difficult to measure accurately, and though the late Mr. Leach, the head gardener at Albury, and Dr. Henry both considered it about 90 feet high, I should not like to say that it is over 80, with a girth of 7 feet 6 inches. It is, however, a very healthy and vigorous tree, and growing fast, and the Duke's agent and gardener both hold a very high opinion of the probable value of the tree for timber, and are planting it largely on the estate. See Gard. Chron. Jan. 30, 1892, where an account is given of the trees at Albury in which Mr. Leach is quoted as saying: "If I had 1000 acres to plant with trees that would give the most remunerative return in a given time, the above would be my mainstay."
Sir Charles Strickland, one of the oldest and most experienced planters in England, also has a high opinion of this tree, and is quoted as follows by Mr. A.D. Webster in an article on this tree in Trans. Scottish Arb. Soc. vol. xii. p. 343:—"There is a hillside here (Hildenley, Yorkshire), with a thin soil upon limestone rock, which I planted two or three times over with very small success—chiefly, I believe, on account of the extreme dryness of the site. The Thuya grows there with great vigour, and I have scarcely lost one of those planted. Among the other merits of this Thuya is the ease with which it may be transplanted, owing to its having bushy, fibrous roots, instead of the long tangles which larch and many other conifers have."
I saw this plantation in 1905, and though the situation is too dry for Thuya to grow to any size, it bears out Sir Charles's good opinion. He has continued to raise the tree largely from his own seed, and is planting them largely at 5 feet apart, without mixture.
At Castlehill, North Devon, the seat of Earl Fortescue, there are also very fine specimens of Thuya plicata. The best is growing in a quarry in a well-sheltered place, but on dry, rocky ground. It measured in April 1905 about 74 feet high by 5 feet 11 inches in girth, and bids fair to become a noble tree.
At Fulmodestone, Norfolk, there are two trees, planted in 1863, which measured in 1905, 67 feet by 7 feet, and 61 feet by 6 feet 8 inches, and have natural seedlings around them.
